[7] As a feminist activist, in 1981, she founded the Collectif féminin (Women's Grouping)[8] not only to oppose the ministerial interdiction on Algerian women leaving the country unless accompanied by a male family member,[8] but also to oppose state endorsement of the discriminatory (seen by her) Algerian Family Code, which the National Assembly eventually adopted in 1984.

[5] Following the adoption of this code, Toumi presided over the Association for Equality between Men and Women,[1][8] founded by a group of Trotskyist militants.

[1] Toumi staunchly opposed Islamist ideology and endorsed the cancellation of the January 1992 legislative elections, which the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS) was poised to win.

[1] In 1993, Toumi published Une Algérienne Debout (Unbowed: an Algerian woman confronts Islamic fundamentalism), which was translated into English in 1998.

[14] In 2008, Toumi ordered that Mohammed Benchicou's Journal d'un homme libre (A free man's notebook) be seized at the printers due to its allegedly antihistorical, subversive and racist content.

[17] In 2022, Toumi was convicted of corruption, including squandering public funds, abuse of office and granting undue privileges, and was sentenced to six years in prison.